TMC sees conspiracy, blames CPM, Cong

West Bengal industry minister Partha Chatterjee said on Wednesday he suspected the violence over land in Birbhum district on Tuesday was engineered by the CPI(M) and Congress together.

“I see the hand of a section of the CPI(M) and Congress behind the incident,” said Partha Chatterjee after a visit to Birbhum, prompting protests from both parties.

“Innocent villagers have been framed by outsiders who came with bows and arrows. The CPI(M) and Congress are the key conspirators,” he said in Suri, district headquarters of Birbhum.

Chatterjee met the injured in Suri, but did not visit the spot of trouble. Jangipur Congress MP Abhijit Mukherjee protested.

“How does Chatterjee know it is a conspiracy of the CPI(M) and Congress, and not his party men? Let there be a CBI inquiry,” he said. Assembly opposition leader Surya Kanta Misra, a CPI(M) member, also asked for a neutral inquiry into the incident.

“Under the present political situation it is not possible that CPI(M) and Congress influenced a huge posse of policemen in the village. If any political leaders are involved at all, they are from the Trinamool,” Mishra said.

In a press statement, the BJP said the Trinamool-led mafia in Loba village was forcing people to part with their land either through threat or by digging the soil adjacent to the plots of those unwilling to part with land, so that their ground caved in.